The 2024 growing season has come and gone, and it was truly spectacular. This summer in community gardens was full of profound moments and growth, as well as challenges and learning experiences. We said goodbye to the Peace N Power garden, which was a bittersweet transition. We had stewarded the space for 5 years, and it is filled with such wonderful memories for us! We met so many incredible people there, learned so much about community urban farming, and baked & shared so many tasty pizzas. We will always cherish our formative years at Peace N Power.
As tough as it was to say goodbye to that space, it opened the door to many new spaces & experiences. This year, we were honored to contribute to the growth of not 1, but 4 different community gardens, and work in 4 different neighborhoods across North Minneapolis! We got to help take care of Zen on Penn in the Folwell neighborhood. We continued to help organize community events at the Old Highland Peace Garden, in the Old Highland neighborhood. We got to help get work done at 1411 Queen Ave Garden, in the Willard-Haye neighborhood, and we continued to work with and learn from the wonderful people at the McKinley neighborhood. Outside of North, we also got to work at the Augsburg community garden at Augsburg University.
Each of these spaces does things a little differently, and it’s been an incredible experience seeing how these unique spaces operate!
At Zen on Penn, we focused on upgrading the permanent infrastructure, & learning to exist as a community growing space on a very busy street corner that is also deeply economically impoverished and underserved. We also focused on maximizing production and distribution. We’re proud to say be grew more than 500 lbs of fresh veggies, and distributed it all for free in the immediate neighborhood, as well as North Minneapolis in general! Despite our excitement with this accomplishment, we believe even more could be produced in the space, and look forward to helping continuing to improve the overall quality of the space, as well as refining methods of community outreach and distribution. It has been an honor working with Jedding, Jillian, Jontae, and all the rest of the incredible people at Folwell.
Old Highland Peace Garden continues to amaze us with the wonderful gathering space & community that Tara, Bryn, Angie, Sue, Jim and all the beautiful Old Highland folks have built. Their kind & interested neighborhood make it such an easy space in which to help facilitate events. We look forward to keeping the movie nights and parties coming! Some stand out memories from this year were watching them develop their beekeeping and honey production, & enjoying the Northern Winds Concert Band serenade the neighborhood during the season opener party.
Of course we can’t mention bee keeping without shouting-out the McKinley neighborhood, which has been spearheading the effort to spread the practice across community gardens in North Minneapolis. Watching them partner with organizations across the city to plant an edible Miyawaki forest was an absolute inspiration, too. Although we didn’t work directly with their community growing efforts this year, we are so grateful for JoAnn & Sharon. Their continued support of our little organization, and of the greater effort of community gardening in North can’t be overstated.
The 1411 Queen Ave Garden was another very exciting space to participate in, for us. The space embodies novel approaches to urban farming that are both down to earth and ground breaking (non puns intended). There is so much work to do in organizing an urban farm/community garden, that such ambitions as an irrigation system often remain in the realm of lofty dreams as the season passes by, but at 1411 these techniques are put into practice. Andy’s generosity with his time, technical skill, & tools has kept us going in the most exhausting stretches of the growing season.
We would be remiss not to mention all the people who joined the new WhatsApp group chat this year, and came out to events or to workdays and helped celebrate these awesome spaces (with a special thanks to Andy, Lexis, & Jack for their hard work)! If you’d like to learn about growing food first-hand in a community garden, learn a skill at a free workshop, or just hang out in growing spaces for a potluck, make sure to stop by the Community Garden page on this website and join the chat, it’s super easy! Otherwise, join the email list for slightly less frequent updates on events and such.
Just because the winter is starting, that doesn’t mean that events are hibernating, though. On the contrary, stay posted to learn about our upcoming winter events! Thanks to all friends, new and old, that were a part of the community garden world this summer, for a fantastic season of growing, sharing, and learning. We wish you all cozy winter evenings, warm hearths, and tasty squash. Until next time!
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